Playing With The Legions Of Hell and Demonic Possession

And other fantasy/horror tropes of their ilk.

I recently decided, "Hey, wouldn't it be fun to take a world where magic and Magitek exist and then completely tear it apart by playing with and deconstructing the tropes involved in some of the most brutal ways imaginable?" So I made a few tweaks. Whether or not this counts as more playing with than deconstructing isn't really a concern, I was more out just to tear fantasy good vs. evil a new one.

• Legions of Hell - This one was simple enough. I needed an antagonist, so the first thing that came to mind was black magic. From there came cultists and then my ideas went strictly Lovecraft.

These "demons" (even they acknowledge that they just don't have a better word) live in a plane of existence separate from ours, one that by human standards could be called Hell. Pretty standard so far. But the catch: They don't want out. They happen to like it quite nicely in their own world and view the cultists trying to remove them as annoyances.

When one does get pulled through, there is almost certainly massive casualties. The beast wants home, and instead of evil for evil's sake, is just tearing shit up in an attempt to find a way home, or barring that, kill itself.

• Magitek - For one, it's still technology and it still breaks. In fact, a common tactic during war is to bust up the enemy's Power Armor in specific places to render the magic that reinforces it moot.

• Demonic Possession - This is one is more just playing with as opposed to anything else because I thought it would be exceedingly cruel and funny to make the victims of possession constantly aware and able to communicate but unable to do anything about their axe-wielding arm swinging towards their spouse's face.

• Black Magic - Magic in my universe has been studied and streamlined to the point of being a science. They've even determined what makes magic run. Each living thing is a conduit which channels a form of natural energy science has labeled pnuema. While every organism has the capacity to channel this energy, their output is largely determined by genetics, which dictates how much of this energy that organism can channel.

By using gene therapy or other methods, one can force the this channel open a little wider, which presents problems all its own. Namely, the energy output is increased, but it isn't filtered by the body like normal, resulting in excess buildup which is called dark magic. While in execution it is no different than normal magic, the buildup caused by unfiltered pnuema can have a very negative effect on a person's sanity.

If anyone has any other ideas, suggestions or criticisms, I'd be happy to hear them.

edited 19th Oct '10 11:09:55 AM by KSPAM

have you read the Bartimaeus Trilogy? the concept is similar.

edited 20th Oct '10 8:01:06 AM by DeLoye

^ Vaguely.

Anyway, sounds like a really interesting idea. Incidentally, your variant of Demonic Possession is actually a really common interpretation - it's more unusual to have the possessee unaware, or (even less common) aware and thinks they're in control.

Except of course that form of possesion is genrelly High Octane Nightmare Fuel , but each to their own.

I was thinking more that they can directly talk and emote, but they can't control their actions anymore.

Ah, that's a bit more funny.

Looks like your magic is Sufficiently Analyzed Magic.

Quite. I was never too fond of incantations and mysticism. It seems impractical, especially in combat.